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April 22, 2020

AI-Powered Darktrace Email | Defend Against Phishing Attacks

Protect your organization from phishing attacks with Antigena Email. Learn how Bunim Murray Productions secures against targeted spear phishing emails.
Inside the SOC
Darktrace cyber analysts are world-class experts in threat intelligence, threat hunting and incident response, and provide 24/7 SOC support to thousands of Darktrace customers around the globe. Inside the SOC is exclusively authored by these experts, providing analysis of cyber incidents and threat trends, based on real-world experience in the field.
Written by
Gabe Cortina
CTO, Bunim/Murray Productions
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22
Apr 2020

The 2014 Sony hack changed everything. Bunim/Murray, like other entertainment companies, woke up to the new threats targeting our sector – jumpstarting our journey to improve security.

Bunim/Murray is the production company behind a whole host of reality television shows and is well-known for several hit series such as The Real World (MTV), Road Rules (MTV), The Simple Life (E!), Family or Fiancé (OWN), and Starting Over (syndicated). Bunim/Murray Productions infuses its finely-tuned sense of dramatic story structure to turn the ordinary tales of real people into extraordinary television programming and filmed entertainment. When landing as the CTO at Bunim/Murray, protecting our business was – and still is – a fundamental part of the job. With strong support from the CEO and CFO, I embarked on the journey to bolster cyber defense for our organization.

Bunim/Murray has some unique challenges in security: we onboard and offboard many employees, especially in production. We have a lot of BYOD (‘Bring Your Own Device’) users. Our IT staff is lean, and we don’t want to spend a lot of time and money on security resources or services. Instead, we want to focus on improving business processes – preparing our organization to launch capabilities to remain competitive in an industry undergoing transformation.

So, in searching for security tools, we were looking for technologies with the following criteria:

  • User-friendly
  • Able to continously identify and respond to the latest threats
  • Efficient with IT resources – low on false positives and alerts
  • Cost effective

After being called by Darktrace, I invited the team over to see if it made sense for them to participate in a bake-off with other tools we were assessing. At our meeting, the team at Darktrace spoke to me about the AI and machine learning capabilities, its roots in MI5 cyber operations, how it would fit into our ecosystem, and the product roadmap. Traditionally, I’m not one to be easily impressed by words – so I asked to try it out within our own organization. Within a week, we had the technology installed and up and running in our data center.

Darktrace’s Enterprise Immune System technology immediately began to baseline the dynamic ‘pattern of life’ for our business. It was the first time we had seen all the devices on our network, and we were able to drill down into all of the activity on our environment. But, even more impressive, Darktrace’s AI instantly got to work in the background, alerting us when we needed to investigate an in-progress security event in real time. Not only were we impressed with the machine learning capabilities, we were impressed with the level of support and security expertise Darktrace provided – and continues to provide our business. I canceled the bake-off and bought the system.

As we moved forward on our journey, our highest vulnerability became phishing. We subscribed to a company to train our workforce and got excellent results. We then turned on Microsoft Advanced ATP to help filter spam and phishing emails. And when I learned that Darktrace was pioneering a new approach to neutralize phishing attacks, I got on board early.

Using AI to tackle phishing head on

We were one of the first adopters of Antigena Email, and the first release surprised us. Within days, Antigena Email cut down phishing emails like no other tool I had ever seen before in my career. Using AI, Antigena Email learns all of our users’ activity patterns – how they interact and communicate both internally and externally. It creates a comprehensive and evolving understanding of what’s ‘normal’ for all of our users, and from there, identifies significant anomalies indicative of a vulnerability or threat. Once the threat is detected, Antigena Email contains the attack before it can cause damage.

Incredibly, once we started using Antigena Email, we no longer needed to spend time and money training our users on phishing awareness because we simply weren’t seeing phishing emails anymore – Antigena Email was blocking them before they ever reached the user.

We turned off our Microsoft ATP and instead used Darktrace’s plug-in to Office 365 and the Dropbox monitoring feature. These features turned out to be essential as we increased our remote workforce due to COVID-19.

Antigena Email in action: Neutralizing COVID-19 phishing campaigns

We have all seen the hundreds of thousands of COVID-19-related domains that have been created by cyber-attackers looking to launch novel phishing campaigns. By exploiting the emotional vulnerability of the situation, these attackers craft messages that are so convincing to users that they click on these malicious links. It is our unfortunate reality that threat-actors use these types of events to prey on the collective attention of the population.

As I’m sure countless other organizations have also experienced, Bunim/Murray has not been immune to these types of attacks. In fact, just last week, Antigena Email caught several phishing emails purporting to deliver corporate COVID-19 updates. These emails bore a spoofed Bunim/Murray domain, with the subject line ‘COVID-19 Update 7.4.2020’. Fortunately, due to Antigena Email’s granular analysis of what’s normal for our corporate email communication, it was able to detect this spoofed domain and block the emails from ever reaching any of the target users.

It’s exactly this type of situation that demonstrates the power of Antigena Email. Had these emails reached the user, we might have been in a situation where one of our well-intentioned employees clicked on the malicious link in an attempt to get accurate, up-to-date information – not recognizing that it would introduce malware into our environment. But with Antigena Email, we don’t have to worry about our end user behavior because the AI neutralizes it before it even gets to that point.

Technology that evolves as we do

What threats will be coming after COVID-19? I am not sure. But, I am confident that Darktrace’s AI will be on it. With its ability to ingest new and evolving information from its customer base, coupled with its top-notch security resources, we know that Darktrace will be able to continue to monitor, alert, and respond to new threats – even if those threats have never been seen before.

Inside the SOC
Darktrace cyber analysts are world-class experts in threat intelligence, threat hunting and incident response, and provide 24/7 SOC support to thousands of Darktrace customers around the globe. Inside the SOC is exclusively authored by these experts, providing analysis of cyber incidents and threat trends, based on real-world experience in the field.
Written by
Gabe Cortina
CTO, Bunim/Murray Productions

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May 16, 2025

Catching a RAT: How Darktrace neutralized AsyncRAT

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What is a RAT?

As the proliferation of new and more advanced cyber threats continues, the Remote Access Trojan (RAT) remains a classic tool in a threat actor's arsenal. RATs, whether standardized or custom-built, enable attackers to remotely control compromised devices, facilitating a range of malicious activities.

What is AsyncRAT?

Since its first appearance in 2019, AsyncRAT has become increasingly popular among a wide range of threat actors, including cybercriminals and advanced persistent threat (APT) groups.

Originally available on GitHub as a legitimate tool, its open-source nature has led to widespread exploitation. AsyncRAT has been used in numerous campaigns, including prolonged attacks on essential US infrastructure, and has even reportedly penetrated the Chinese cybercriminal underground market [1] [2].

How does AsyncRAT work?

Original source code analysis of AsyncRAT demonstrates that once installed, it establishes persistence via techniques such as creating scheduled tasks or registry keys and uses SeDebugPrivilege to gain elevated privileges [3].

Its key features include:

  • Keylogging
  • File search
  • Remote audio and camera access
  • Exfiltration techniques
  • Staging for final payload delivery

These are generally typical functions found in traditional RATs. However, it also boasts interesting anti-detection capabilities. Due to the popularity of Virtual Machines (VM) and sandboxes for dynamic analysis, this RAT checks for the manufacturer via the WMI query 'Select * from Win32_ComputerSystem' and looks for strings containing 'VMware' and 'VirtualBox' [4].

Darktrace’s coverage of AsyncRAT

In late 2024 and early 2025, Darktrace observed a spike in AsyncRAT activity across various customer environments. Multiple indicators of post-compromise were detected, including devices attempting or successfully connecting to endpoints associated with AsyncRAT.

On several occasions, Darktrace identified a clear association with AsyncRAT through the digital certificates of the highlighted SSL endpoints. Darktrace’s Real-time Detection effectively identified and alerted on suspicious activities related to AsyncRAT. In one notable incident, Darktrace’s Autonomous Response promptly took action to contain the emerging threat posed by AsyncRAT.

AsyncRAT attack overview

On December 20, 2024, Darktrace first identified the use of AsyncRAT, noting a device successfully establishing SSL connections to the uncommon external IP 185.49.126[.]50 (AS199654 Oxide Group Limited) via port 6606. The IP address appears to be associated with AsyncRAT as flagged by open-source intelligence (OSINT) sources [5]. This activity triggered the device to alert the ‘Anomalous Connection / Rare External SSL Self-Signed' model.

Model alert in Darktrace / NETWORK showing the repeated SSL connections to a rare external Self-Signed endpoint, 185.49.126[.]50.
Figure 1: Model alert in Darktrace / NETWORK showing the repeated SSL connections to a rare external Self-Signed endpoint, 185.49.126[.]50.

Following these initial connections, the device was observed making a significantly higher number of connections to the same endpoint 185.49.126[.]50 via port 6606 over an extended period. This pattern suggested beaconing activity and triggered the 'Compromise/Beaconing Activity to External Rare' model alert.

Further analysis of the original source code, available publicly, outlines the default ports used by AsyncRAT clients for command-and-control (C2) communications [6]. It reveals that port 6606 is the default port for creating a new AsyncRAT client. Darktrace identified both the Certificate Issuer and the Certificate Subject as "CN=AsyncRAT Server". This SSL certificate encrypts the packets between the compromised system and the server. These indicators of compromise (IoCs) detected by Darktrace further suggest that the device was successfully connecting to a server associated with AsyncRAT.

Model alert in Darktrace / NETWORK displaying the Digital Certificate attributes, IP address and port number associated with AsyncRAT.
Figure 2: Model alert in Darktrace / NETWORK displaying the Digital Certificate attributes, IP address and port number associated with AsyncRAT.
Darktrace’s detection of repeated connections to the suspicious IP address 185.49.126[.]50 over port 6606, indicative of beaconing behavior.
Figure 3: Darktrace’s detection of repeated connections to the suspicious IP address 185.49.126[.]50 over port 6606, indicative of beaconing behavior.
Darktrace's Autonomous Response actions blocking the suspicious IP address,185.49.126[.]50.
Figure 4: Darktrace's Autonomous Response actions blocking the suspicious IP address,185.49.126[.]50.

A few days later, the same device was detected making numerous connections to a different IP address, 195.26.255[.]81 (AS40021 NL-811-40021), via various ports including 2106, 6606, 7707, and 8808. Notably, ports 7707 and 8808 are also default ports specified in the original AsyncRAT source code [6].

Darktrace’s detection of connections to the suspicious endpoint 195.26.255[.]81, where the default ports (6606, 7707, and 8808) for AsyncRAT were observed.
Figure 5: Darktrace’s detection of connections to the suspicious endpoint 195.26.255[.]81, where the default ports (6606, 7707, and 8808) for AsyncRAT were observed.

Similar to the activity observed with the first endpoint, 185.49.126[.]50, the Certificate Issuer for the connections to 195.26.255[.]81 was identified as "CN=AsyncRAT Server". Further OSINT investigation confirmed associations between the IP address 195.26.255[.]81 and AsyncRAT [7].

Darktrace's detection of a connection to the suspicious IP address 195.26.255[.]81 and the domain name identified under the common name (CN) of a certificate as AsyncRAT Server
Figure 6: Darktrace's detection of a connection to the suspicious IP address 195.26.255[.]81 and the domain name identified under the common name (CN) of a certificate as AsyncRAT Server.

Once again, Darktrace's Autonomous Response acted swiftly, blocking the connections to 195.26.255[.]81 throughout the observed AsyncRAT activity.

Figure 7: Darktrace's Autonomous Response actions were applied against the suspicious IP address 195.26.255[.]81.

A day later, Darktrace again alerted to further suspicious activity from the device. This time, connections to the suspicious endpoint 'kashuub[.]com' and IP address 191.96.207[.]246 via port 8041 were observed. Further analysis of port 8041 suggests it is commonly associated with ScreenConnect or Xcorpeon ASIC Carrier Ethernet Transport [8]. ScreenConnect has been observed in recent campaign’s where AsyncRAT has been utilized [9]. Additionally, one of the ASN’s observed, namely ‘ASN Oxide Group Limited’, was seen in both connections to kashuub[.]com and 185.49.126[.]50.

This could suggest a parallel between the two endpoints, indicating they might be hosting AsyncRAT C2 servers, as inferred from our previous analysis of the endpoint 185.49.126[.]50 and its association with AsyncRAT [5]. OSINT reporting suggests that the “kashuub[.]com” endpoint may be associated with ScreenConnect scam domains, further supporting the assumption that the endpoint could be a C2 server.

Darktrace’s Autonomous Response technology was once again able to support the customer here, blocking connections to “kashuub[.]com”. Ultimately, this intervention halted the compromise and prevented the attack from escalating or any sensitive data from being exfiltrated from the customer’s network into the hands of the threat actors.

Darktrace’s Autonomous Response applied a total of nine actions against the IP address 191.96.207[.]246 and the domain 'kashuub[.]com', successfully blocking the connections.
Figure 8: Darktrace’s Autonomous Response applied a total of nine actions against the IP address 191.96.207[.]246 and the domain 'kashuub[.]com', successfully blocking the connections.

Due to the popularity of this RAT, it is difficult to determine the motive behind the attack; however, from existing knowledge of what the RAT does, we can assume accessing and exfiltrating sensitive customer data may have been a factor.

Conclusion

While some cybercriminals seek stability and simplicity, openly available RATs like AsyncRAT provide the infrastructure and open the door for even the most amateur threat actors to compromise sensitive networks. As the cyber landscape continually shifts, RATs are now being used in all types of attacks.

Darktrace’s suite of AI-driven tools provides organizations with the infrastructure to achieve complete visibility and control over emerging threats within their network environment. Although AsyncRAT’s lack of concealment allowed Darktrace to quickly detect the developing threat and alert on unusual behaviors, it was ultimately Darktrace Autonomous Response's consistent blocking of suspicious connections that prevented a more disruptive attack.

Credit to Isabel Evans (Cyber Analyst), Priya Thapa (Cyber Analyst) and Ryan Traill (Analyst Content Lead)

Appendices

  • Real-time Detection Models
       
    • Compromise / Suspicious SSL Activity
    •  
    • Compromise / Beaconing Activity To      External Rare
    •  
    • Compromise / High Volume of      Connections with Beacon Score
    •  
    • Anomalous Connection / Suspicious      Self-Signed SSL
    •  
    • Compromise / Sustained SSL or HTTP      Increase
    •  
    • Compromise / SSL Beaconing to Rare      Destination
    •  
    • Compromise / Suspicious Beaconing      Behaviour
    •  
    • Compromise / Large Number of      Suspicious Failed Connections
  •  
  • Autonomous     Response Models
       
    • Antigena / Network / Significant      Anomaly / Antigena Controlled and Model Alert
    •  
    • Antigena / Network / Significant      Anomaly / Antigena Enhanced Monitoring from Client Block

List of IoCs

·     185.49.126[.]50 - IP – AsyncRAT C2 Endpoint

·     195.26.255[.]81 – IP - AsyncRAT C2 Endpoint

·      191.96.207[.]246 – IP – Likely AsyncRAT C2 Endpoint

·     CN=AsyncRAT Server - SSL certificate - AsyncRATC2 Infrastructure

·      Kashuub[.]com– Hostname – Likely AsyncRAT C2 Endpoint

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping:

Tactic –Technique – Sub-Technique  

 

Execution– T1053 - Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task

DefenceEvasion – T1497 - Virtualization/Sandbox Evasion: System Checks

Discovery– T1057 – Process Discovery

Discovery– T1082 – System Information Discovery

LateralMovement - T1021.001 - Remote Services: Remote Desktop Protocol

Collection/ Credential Access – T1056 – Input Capture: Keylogging

Collection– T1125 – Video Capture

Commandand Control – T1105 - Ingress Tool Transfer

Commandand Control – T1219 - Remote Access Software

Exfiltration– T1041 - Exfiltration Over C2 Channel

 

References

[1]  https://blog.talosintelligence.com/operation-layover-how-we-tracked-attack/

[2] https://intel471.com/blog/china-cybercrime-undergrond-deepmix-tea-horse-road-great-firewall

[3] https://www.attackiq.com/2024/08/01/emulate-asyncrat/

[4] https://www.fortinet.com/blog/threat-research/spear-phishing-campaign-with-new-techniques-aimed-at-aviation-companies

[5] https://www.virustotal.com/gui/ip-address/185.49.126[.]50/community

[6] https://dfir.ch/posts/asyncrat_quasarrat/

[7] https://www.virustotal.com/gui/ip-address/195.26.255[.]81

[8] https://www.speedguide.net/port.php?port=8041

[9] https://www.esentire.com/blog/exploring-the-infection-chain-screenconnects-link-to-asyncrat-deployment

[10] https://scammer.info/t/taking-out-connectwise-sites/153479/518?page=26

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About the author
Isabel Evans
Cyber Analyst

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May 13, 2025

Revolutionizing OT Risk Prioritization with Darktrace 6.3

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Powering smarter protection for industrial systems

In industrial environments, security challenges are deeply operational. Whether you’re running a manufacturing line, a power grid, or a semiconductor fabrication facility (fab), you need to know: What risks can truly disrupt my operations, and what should I focus on first?

Teams need the right tools to shift from reactive defense, constantly putting out fires, to proactively thinking about their security posture. However, most OT teams are stuck using IT-centric tools that don’t speak the language of industrial systems, are consistently overwhelmed with static CVE lists, and offer no understanding of OT-specific protocols. The result? Compliance gaps, siloed insights, and risk models that don’t reflect real-world exposure, making risk prioritization seem like a luxury.

Darktrace / OT 6.3 was built in direct response to these challenges. Developed in close collaboration with OT operators and engineers, this release introduces powerful upgrades that deliver the context, visibility, and automation security teams need, without adding complexity. It’s everything OT defenders need to protect critical operations in one platform that understands the language of industrial systems.

additions to darktrace / ot 6/3

Contextual risk modeling with smarter Risk Scoring

Darktrace / OT 6.3 introduces major upgrades to OT Risk Management, helping teams move beyond generic CVE lists with AI-driven risk scoring and attack path modeling.

By factoring in real-world exploitability, asset criticality, and operational context, this release delivers a more accurate view of what truly puts critical systems at risk.

The platform now integrates:

  • CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) database
  • End-of-life status for legacy OT devices
  • Firewall misconfiguration analysis
  • Incident response plan alignment

Most OT environments are flooded with vulnerability data that lacks context. CVE scores often misrepresent risk by ignoring how threats move through the environment or whether assets are even reachable. Firewalls are frequently misconfigured or undocumented, and EOL (End of Life) devices, some of the most vulnerable, often go untracked.

Legacy tools treat these inputs in isolation. Darktrace unifies them, showing teams exactly which attack paths adversaries could exploit, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, with visibility into where legacy tech increases exposure.

The result: teams can finally focus on the risks that matter most to uptime, safety, and resilience without wasting resources on noise.

Automating compliance with dynamic IEC-62443 reporting

Darktrace / OT now includes a purpose-built IEC-62443-3-3 compliance module, giving industrial teams real-time visibility into their alignment with regulatory standards. No spreadsheets required!

Industrial environments are among the most heavily regulated. However, for many OT teams, staying compliant is still a manual, time-consuming process.

Darktrace / OT introduces a dedicated IEC-62443-3-3 module designed specifically for industrial environments. Security and operations teams can now map their security posture to IEC standards in real time, directly within the platform. The module automatically gathers evidence across all four security levels, flags non-compliance, and generates structured reports to support audit preparation, all in just a few clicks.Most organizations rely on spreadsheets or static tools to track compliance, without clear visibility into which controls meet standards like IEC-62443. The result is hidden gaps, resource-heavy audits, and slow remediation cycles.

Even dedicated compliance tools are often built for IT, require complex setup, and overlook the unique devices found in OT environments. This leaves teams stuck with fragmented reporting and limited assurance that their controls are actually aligned with regulatory expectations.

By automating compliance tracking, surfacing what matters most, and being purpose built for industrial environments, Darktrace / OT empowers organizations to reduce audit fatigue, eliminate blind spots, and focus resources where they’re needed most.

Expanding protocol visibility with deep insights for specialized OT operations

Darktrace has expanded its Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) capabilities to support five industry-specific protocols, across healthcare, semiconductor manufacturing, and ABB control systems.

The new protocols build on existing capabilities across all OT industry verticals and protocol types to ensure the Darktrace Self-Learning AI TM can learn intelligently about even more assets in complex industrial environments. By enabling native, AI-driven inspection of these protocols, Darktrace can identify both security threats and operational issues without relying on additional appliances or complex integrations.

Most security platforms lack native support for industry-specific protocols, creating critical visibility gaps in customer environments like healthcare, semiconductor manufacturing, and ABB-heavy industrial automation. Without deep protocol awareness, organizations struggle to accurately identify specialized OT and IoT assets, detect malicious activity concealed within proprietary protocol traffic, and generate reliable device risk profiles due to insufficient telemetry.

These blind spots result in incomplete asset inventories, and ultimately, flawed risk posture assessments which over-index for CVE patching and legacy equipment.

By combining protocol-aware detection with full-stack visibility across IT, OT, and IoT, Darktrace’s AI can correlate anomalies across domains. For example, connecting an anomaly from a Medical IoT (MIoT) device with suspicious behavior in IT systems, providing actionable, contextual insights other solutions often miss.

Conclusion

Together, these capabilities take OT security beyond alert noise and basic CVE matching, delivering continuous compliance, protocol-aware visibility, and actionable, prioritized risk insights, all inside a single, unified platform built for the realities of industrial environments.

[related-resource]

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About the author
Pallavi Singh
Product Marketing Manager, OT Security & Compliance
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